Friday, November 09, 2012

First snow

It's amazing how fast nature can change her clothes. On October 12 dots of soft white clouds peppered the aqua-blue sky, and the westward-edging sun sent a golden glow over the turning leaves outside my window. As soon as Jonathan got home from work I begged him to take the screen off the window so I could get a picture of the glorious fall scene.

Golden afternoon glow on the colourful leaves ~ Friday, October 12, 2012

When I got back from my southern-USA trip, the leaves had deserted the trees, and the woods behind the house looked more open, less dense. Then November 7 came along. The day was dull and Jonathan mentioned before he left for work that he thought it would snow in the evening. I didn't think much about his prediction until that night when Jonathan raced into the room crowing, "I just walked by the window and it's snowing!" I didn't bother trying to pull up the Venetian blinds on the window above my head, but dashed out of the room, Jonathan following close behind me, and tugged on the back door. It opened to a wintry world of flake-dust drifting down to cover the porch and the ground with its white blanket. Winter already?! I couldn't believe it. Winter comes early in Alberta and northern Ontario. Even in southern BC where I grew up, winter can arrive in early-to-mid November. But winter this early in Maine? It's so much farther south... I was definitely surprised that Jonathan's prediction came true, but at the same time, completely delighted.

Snowy morning ~ Thursday, November 8, 2012 (Photo by Jonathan G.)

The snow stayed all of Thursday, although driving rain off and on all day tried to melt it away. By today it was all gone. But that first snow-sighting, it was magical. For two seasons of winter I've been overseas. The only snow I saw two years ago in Tanzania rested on the far-off dome of Mt. Kilimanjaro and, on occasion, the jagged peak of Mt. Meru towering over the ADRA campus. Last winter in Korea we had changed our calendar over to December before the first snow arrived, but by then the weather was already bitterly chilly and the cover of snow on the ground was a relief. We experienced several good snowfalls that year, but I felt that all of them were tainted with the noise, hurry, and grime of the big city. So this year's first snow was special. The pure white covering of nature right outside my window thrilled my soul. Although the snow is gone now, I'm anxiously awaiting more, the kind of snowfall that sticks and stays. The kind that means winter is really here for good. The kind I haven't experienced for the past three years. I'm ready for a real winter this year. And Maine looks quite willing to deliver!

2 comments:

  1. I can't wait for snow that stays till spring! Nice post, Ali, it was good to read! :)

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  2. We had fresh snow today.
    It was pleasant.
    I really enjoyed the words you used in this essay.
    Thanks for the great blog post.

    ReplyDelete